Taut wire moving contact mounting arrangement

ABSTRACT

A TAUT WIRE MOVING CONTACT ARRANGEMENT THAT ALLOWS FOR MANUAL ASSEMBLY WITHOUT THE NEED FOR TOOLS OR CONVENTIONAL FASTENERS AND INCLUDES AN INTEGRAL RESILIENT PORTION TO LIMIT STRESS IN THE WIRE DURING ACTUATION THEREOF.

iiile ls Pit Gerald J. William Honeywell, lnc. Minneapolis, Minn.

"lflill'l Wmlil MOVING CONTACT MOUNTIING AlillMNGlEli/JIIENT l illnimii,i) Dim-wing Figs.

ILLS. Cl lm. Cl 1810M! 1/24 Primary Examiner-H. 0. JonesAttorneys-Lamont B. Koontz and Philip J. Zrimsek AIRSTMACT: A taut wiremoving contact arrangement that allows for manual assembly without theneed for tools or conventional fasteners and includes an integralresilient portion to limit stress in the wire during actuation thereof.

Pmmmuwzelsn 3588,416

I N VEN TOR.

GERALD J MILLAM TTORNEY.

TAUT WlRE MOVING CONTACT MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT The present invention isdirected to an electrical switching arrangement of the taut wire movingcontact type which allows for ease of assembly and minimizes stress inthe wire during movement thereof toward and away from its engagingcontact.

Electrical switching arrangements utilizing taut wire moving contactsare well known in the prior art. Conventionally such wires have beenrigidly secured, by clamping for example, at their extremities. Thisposes two problems: first, the fastening means to rigidly secure thewires necessarily adds to the complexity and cost and second, a rigidlysecured wire tends to be overstressed upon actuation and ultimatelybecomes elongated to a certain extent thereby reducing the degree oftautness.

As disclosed in the preferred embodiment herein, a taut wire movingcontact arrangement alleviates the problems above referred to. Thus thetaut wire includes extremities which are in coiled form and which can behand assembled to mounting pins located on a support member so that uponmovement of the taut wire towards and away from an engaging contactexcess stress is not encountered due to the relative freedom of movementof the wire provided by the coiled extremities. It will be appreciatedthat while a certain longitudinal extension" of the taut wire movingcontact is encountered, a relative constant tension is provided thereinby the construction above set forth.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a taut wiremoving contact arrangement which allows for hand assembly without theneed for conventional fasteners or tools of any kind.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a taut wire movingcontact arrangement in which excess stress is not encountered duringactuation thereof.

These and other objects become apparent from a reading of the followingspecification and claims when viewed with the drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a taut wire moving contact incorporating theinvention;

FlG. 2 is a side elevation of the taut wire of FIG. 1 disposed forassembly with a support member; 7

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the taut wire and support in assembledcondition; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, a taut wire moving contact is shown.The extremities 10a and 10b of the moving wire contact 10 are wound incoil form, referring to FIG. 2, and in opposite directions, referring toFIG. 1. The centerline to centerline distance between the coilextremities Ma and 10b is somewhat less than the centerline tocenterline distance between mounting provisions in the form of metalpins 112 and 14 provided in a plastic molded support member 16. Themoving contact 10 can be associated with the support 16 by merelyextending the extremities 10a and 10b somewhat and passing them over andabout the accommodating reduced upper diameters of the pins 12 and 141.This of course can be accomplished by hand assembly.

The moving contact 10 when in place with respect to the support 16 asshown in FlGS. 3 and 4 is guided in grooves 16a, 16b, 16c, 16d and Meand can be selectively associated with various fixed contacts 18, 20, 22and 24 and arranged for engagement therewith by movement of theappropriate portions of the moving contact toward the fixed contacts byany suitable means so as to cause selective closure of the variouscircuits provided by electrical connections, not shown, to the variouspins and contacts as is well known in the art.

The taut wire moving contact arrangement as above described of coursedoes not involve an overstressing of the moving contact 10 duringmovement thereof since a longitudinal extension" is provided by the coilextremities 10a and 10b.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that a unique taut movingwire contact arrangement has been disclosed which is extremelystraightforward in approach, involves only hand assembly and minimizesany excess stress in actuation.

Other embodiments of the present invention are possible and thereforethe scope should be determined from the following claims in which:

lclaim:

1. An electrical switching arrangement comprising a first contact, asupport including spaced apart mounting provisions, a moving wirecontact disposed proximate said first contact with the extremities ofsaid moving wire contact associated with said mounting provisions so asto provide a taut wire construction, said moving wire contact includingan integral resilient portion provided so as to limit stress in saidmoving wire contact in excursions thereof toward and away from saidfirst contact.

2. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein the integral resilient portion isincorporated with one of the extremities of said moving wire contact andis associated with a mounting provision.

3. The arrangement of claim 2 wherein the mounting provisions comprisepins extending from said support and the extremities of said moving wirecontact are disposed thereabout.

4. The arrangement of claim 3 wherein the extremities of said movingwire contact are coiled and which in assembly pass over and about thepins.

